Septic systems become hot topic, By John Henderer, The Chronicle, 2/13/99
Fueled by the environmental X-factor, septic systems have become one of the prickliest political and economic issues for Lewis County homeowners and politicians.
During the past several years, an unsteady Lewis County vortex has swirled about the home sewage treatment machines. The milieu has included a police standoff, tense citizen-videotaped inspections, a government-ordered septic demolition, county employee firings, and last month's criminal trial of a former county inspector.
To understand how septic systems could possibly inspire such controversy, one must understand fecal economics.
Since 1962, when Lewis County first required sewage system permits, the price has inflated from a few hundred dollars to as much as $20,000 or more.
A modern septic system today costs an average of $6,000 to $7,000, local industry officials say.
That could make the difference for some home-buyers in Lewis County, where last year's median price was $98,000.
Costs escalated dramatically as the state Health Department has imposed increasingly stringent regulations, especially in 1995.
Once-common gravity flow septic systems are rare today.
Officials estimate more than 70 percent of Lewis County's 655 septic systems applied for annually require an engineered design.
The trouble lies in the ground. Lewis County's ''tight,'' clay soils serve as a lousy treatment filter for waste water.
''In this county here, we have a real problem with soils that have tight layers in them,'' said Bill Fibich, retired soil scientist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. ''There's no room, really, for the septic fluids to be absorbed by the soil.''
Under the right conditions , the earth works in concert with septic systems to treat waste water. Properly functioning septic systems can act as a ground-water recharge system.
A biological mat forms where a septic system's drainfield gravel meets soil. This biological material acts as a filter. It has a thin anaerobic or oxygenless zone and a deeper aerobic zone where air circulates among tiny soil particles. In this harsh environment, the soil's natural chemistry ''eats'' or deactivates sewage bacteria and viruses.
If the soil becomes saturated with water, treatment stops and the system fails. Conversely, if the liquid sinks too rapidly through sandy or gravelly soil into the ground-water aquifer, this too is a failure.
Lewis County has 255 so-called ''map units'' or individual soil types running the gamut from tight clay that won't absorb septic discharge to volcanic ash and glacial deposits that allow too-rapid penetration. Some soils near Salkum, Mossyrock and Doty remain suitable for a traditional gravity-flow system for as little as $2,000.
But that's the exception.
Soil depth - especially on the more populated west end of the county - is often too shallow, too tight and too restrictive for proper treatment.
Prospective home buyers sometimes fail to account for the costs of elaborate, engineered septic systems.
''They're too busy looking at the price of the ground,'' said Larry Gallanger, owner of D & D Excavating, Chehalis, who has warned people of the expense and technical difficulties some poorly drained soils can create for septic systems.
''On these tight soils you're not only dealing with tight clay soils, but a high water table,'' said Russell Pringle, soil scientist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Baton Rouge, La., who wrote Lewis County's soil survey with Fibich. ''It's compounded by putting the septic tank in there. You're essentially getting rainfall on it year-round.''
As a result, the county's most common septic system today is the sand mound, which runs between $7,500 and $9,000. A mound relies on imported, mixed-grade sand, built on top of the ground, to serve as a treatment filter, imitating good soil conditions.
Other systems include pressure-distribution for controlled liquid dispersal, a sand filter housed in a concrete vessel, aerobic treatment units and other alternative designs.
Some property owners, such as Sue and Dalton Giesy, have received a rude introduction to the septic-system blues.
The Giesys bought 8 acres of land near Toledo six years ago, knowing the soil might not be suitable for a septic system. But Sue Giesy, a grocery checker at Fullers in Centralia, said she had no idea it would cost $15,000 to flush the toilet.
Her three-phase septic system involves a tank, pump chamber, enclosed sand filter, a second pump, and a sand mound for final treatment and disposal.
''All of it has been … surprises all the way,'' said Giesy, who moved into her new home last month. ''We seem to have fallen into the most expensive pit that there is.''
The cost drives some Lewis County do-it-yourselfers slinking from the permit counter with cost-saving schemes.
''They'll call you and ask you lots of questions about (installing) it and say, 'I'm going to just go rent a backhoe and put in my own,' '' said septic installer Steve Shannon, owner of Shannon Construction, Centralia.
These property owners risk prosecution for violating county septic system laws - a misdemeanor. Conviction can mean fines of up to $100 a day and 90 days in the county jail.
Regulators also could pursue a civil penalty of $20 a day.
Some 25 years ago, a standard septic tank would have met state regulations. But widespread system failures and increasing concerns over ground-water contamination involving nitrates, bacteria, phosphates, and pathogens have prompted ever-tighter regulations.
Near Fords Prairie west of Centralia, porous, gravelly soil drops septic fluids quickly down to the ground water. As the area was developed, contaminant levels increased, edging closer toward a health hazard.
''You wash your hands after going to the bathroom, and you've got a nice little recycling project going,'' Pringle said.
The city had to extend sewers to the area.
''I think the public's really missing out on what the state's trying to do,'' Gallanger said. ''All they see is a bunch of money going out the hole.''
State regulations are designed to protect the public health and avoid outbreaks of disease ''scourges,'' as have occurred in the past, said Mark Soltman, state Health Department waste water program supervisor.
Mixing sewage with drinking water has caused outbreaks of salmonella, typhoid, shigella, cholera, and more, he said.
System maintenance or lack thereof also can cause failures.
Winlock septic-system designer Dean Whorton said a King County woman overworked her system, saturating soils every Saturday with seven loads of laundry.
Some homeowners , subsequent to the first owners, will attempt to level their sand mound treatment system, not realizing its purpose.
''I've gone on some (properties) where the Realtor said there was no problem, but if I'd gone on without my boots on, I'd have been up to my knees in sewage,'' Whorton said. ''You don't have to be an expert to know that system's failing.''
Lewis County has tried to lessen the super-charged political atmosphere surrounding septic systems.
''We are concerned,'' said county Commissioner Russ Wigley. ''It's really putting, a lot of times, home ownership out of reach for a lot of people.''
After Mike Vinatieri , former county environmental services manager, left for another job in 1997, commissioners hired Jim Goode, a former county inspector and private practice septic systems designer.
Goode quickly let installers know a county rule prohibiting installation from Oct. 15 to April 15 would end. No state law prohibited it.
''In the past, it was almost like 'we're not here to serve you, we're here to give you a bad time,' '' Shannon, who has installed systems since 1959, said of county regulators. ''It's pretty near a different attitude. He goes by the book and none of this interpreting the rules for himself.''
As unpopular as it may sound in Lewis County, some officials said septic systems don't belong in some parts of the county.
''Let's face it,'' Pringle said. ''There are places you just flat-out shouldn't build (on).''
John Henderer covers county government and environmental issues for The Chronicle. He can be reached by e-mail at jhenderer@chronline.com or by calling 807-8239.
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